Let Her Go
by Lily1986
Summary: Sequel to Say Something. Ward's not very happy with Skye's drastic decision after finding out about his relationship with May. And he has to come to terms with why that bothers him so much.


**A.N: **I called this a "sequel" on the main page but it's actually more of a companion piece. It's the same story but it's in Ward's POV. His head is fun to get into and I think the show should do it more often. He's actually a really complex character. Not just the muscle. It was interesting to write him coming to terms with his feelings for Skye and what kind of sacrifices that would entail. Because Ward knows what it means to make a sacrifice for someone you love. The show has definitely shown us that much about his psyche. Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)

**Let Her Go**

He truly believed this would be another standard mission. The team had been working so well together that he hadn't even been concerned. He knew Skye, Simmons and Fitz all had his back in the air and that May watched his back on the ground. But when Coulson pulled him aside to let him know who he'd be saving, his entire tactical plan shattered. Because he no longer wanted Skye, Simmons or Fitz involved and he didn't want May in the field with him either. He wanted to do this one on his own. And he requested as much.

* * *

><p>"It's your father."<p>

"Sir?"

"Your father is the mission, Ward." Coulson explained. "He was taken in Bangkok."

"My father retired. He's not an Active Agent." Ward said calmly.

"I'm sorry…" Coulson said. "I can go with May if you prefer. You could stay on the bus. Sit this one out. I know your family's history and I don't want you to feel obligated to do this… but I figured I owed you the opportunity to make that decision for yourself."

"I'll do it."

"It'll be a two man team." Coulson explained with a nod. "I'll let May know that she will be going down there with you."

"No."

"No?"

"I go in alone." Ward stated.

"Ward… you know that's not my orders…"

"With all due respect, sir…. I don't give a damn about your orders." Ward said. "This is my family. I'm going in… alone."

Coulson nodded. "Okay then."

Ward gave him a swift nod before walking back to the team. He walked in on Skye asking about the mission and who they were saving.

"My father." He answered her sternly. He winced at his own voice not meaning for it to come out the way that it did.

"Your father? Your dad is Shield?"

He'd always loved her enthusiasm. But right now, he could use a lot less of it. Considering how long it had been since he'd even seen his own father. "Was Shield."

He kept his arms crossed throughout Coulson's debrief about his father and partial family history. He even kept his mouth shut and ignored Skye when she called his father a superhero. His father was heroic but he wasn't a hero.

"He's been inactive for years…" he asked Coulson ignoring Skye. "Why would someone go after him now?"

That's when Coulson reminded him that it didn't matter why his father was taken. All that mattered was getting him back. And that's when he decided that he would treat this as any other mission and remove any emotional attachment that he may or may not have had.

* * *

><p>"Knock… knock…"<p>

He looked up from his book on the couch and smiled. "Hey…"

"Sorry about earlier…"

"About what?"

"The hero worship…." Skye said. "I read the rest of the file."

He nodded. "Good… you should be well versed on every mission."

She sat down in front of him. "So what was he like? Your dad?"

"You read the file."

"Yeah but…"

"Then you already know as much as I do about him."

"Ward…"

"I've got to prepare for the mission tomorrow." He said before standing and walking away.

* * *

><p>He was standing in the kitchen making himself a sandwich when she walked in.<p>

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to find out that you weren't going in with me tomorrow."

"Coulson just told me you requested to go in alone. Are you insane?"

He looked up at May and shook his head. "I don't think so."

"You're an idiot then."

He laughed.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because… I have to. And I'm the only one who can."

"Is that so?" May asked crossing her arms.

"It's not like that May… I just… I have to do this. Me… No one else."

"I can help you."

He smiled softly. "Thanks… but I don't need it."

" You shouldn't go in alone."

He closed the distance between them and touched her face softly. "I don't want to put you at risk."

They both heard a soft gasp and looked up to find Skye. His eyes widened and he let his hand drop from May before jumping back to make space between them. "Skye…"

"I just wanted to make sure that you're good… Thought you'd want to talk about tomorrow but looks like you've already got a shoulder to lean on."

He watched her shrug. She always shrugged when she was faking indifference. His chest constricted and he couldn't understand why it felt like someone was crushing him from inside. He tried to say something but she'd interrupted him before any sound could even come out of his mouth.

"I'll go… I should get to bed anyway. Coulson says you're leaving before dawn. In case I don't see you… Good luck… and good night…"

He watched her walk away. He didn't realize how long he'd been staring at the spot she'd left vacant until May spoke up.

"She likes you…"

Ward snapped his head back toward her and shook his head in denial. "She's my rookie… she just cares because I'm her S.O."

"She cares a lot more than that… And if you can't see that then you really are an idiot."

He watched May leave too before turning back to the bar in the kitchen. He reached over for a bottle of the scotch and poured himself a glass. He swallowed the contents in his glass and frowned. As much as he wanted to drink the entire bottle, he knew that he couldn't. He needed to be focused for the mission the next day. He turned to leave the kitchen and frowned before grabbing the bottle to take with him.

* * *

><p>Fitz and Coulson were the only ones who'd been awake when he left that morning. To be honest, that's how he'd preferred it.<p>

"Stay alive out there, yeah?" Fitz had told him.

"We'll be watching your back from up here the entire time." Coulson said.

That was before he'd landed in hostile territory looking for his estranged father in a compound over run with international crime lords.

With Fitz in his ear the entire time, he'd found the passages he'd needed to take in order to find where they'd keep their prisoners. He was about to break down the door when he lost contact with Fitz on the bus.

"Fitz?" he whispered. "Do you copy?"

All he got was silence.

He broke down the door anyway.

The man on the other side stood and it was like looking into a mirror. If mirrors aged you.

"Grant?"

"Hey dad… I'm here to break you out."

* * *

><p>The extraction had been difficult. He'd been able to get in touch with Fitz after only a couple minutes and get his father and himself to a safe location for May to swoop in and pick them up. His father's surprised face as he walked aboard The Bus was probably one that he would always remember. Another face would be hers. She had a beaming smile and he could have sworn she wanted to run into his arms but didn't. And he wondered why that left him disappointed.<p>

* * *

><p>After being debriefed and helping his father settle in on The Bus, he'd decided it was time to talk to her. They needed to clear the air if they were both going to continue to work together on this team. He walked to her bunk and found the door open. He stood at the door and leaned against her doorframe comfortably. He was always most comfortable around her.<p>

"Can we talk?"

She'd looked up at him with a smile, the one he loved to see on her. "Sure… What's on your mind, Agent Ward?"

He didn't understand why but he felt that he needed to explain himself. He needed to make her understand that what she walked in on the night before was not what she thought it was. "What you witnessed last night… it wasn't what it looked like…"

He watched as she calmly closed the laptop she'd been typing on when he arrived before looking back at him. "It wasn't an intimate moment between you and Agent May then?"

Maybe it was exactly what it looked like.

"No… I mean yes… I mean… it's complicated."

"How long have you two been sleeping together?"

A swift punch to the gut. He hadn't felt anything like that since he'd found her with her hacker ex-boyfriend. He'd taught her well, it would seem.

"What?"

And that was when she gave him the look. It was the look that usually made him come undone to the point that he would let her in. With that look, she didn't just bring down any walls he'd set around himself. She would decimate them with that single look. He found himself being completely honest.

"Since that night at the hotel after the ordeal with the Asgardian staff."

"Oh."

He realized he must have said something wrong because the disappointment in her voice wasn't one he would ever forget. For some reason, he felt the need to apologize to her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you…"

"Don't be. You don't report to me. What… or who you do when you're off the clock is none of my business."

Somehow that hurt more.

"Skye…"

She didn't give him a chance to explain before she was standing to leave. "Just next time I offer you a shoulder to cry on, have some balls and tell me that you've already got someone warming your bed."

But he kept saying her name in hopes that she would actually listen to what he had to say. Because he had to say something. He just needed a moment to figure out what that was.

"Skye…"

That was when she delivered the swiftest of all punches. "Congratulations. I guess this makes us even."

And that was the hit that hurt most. He'd definitely taught her well.

* * *

><p>"Ouch."<p>

He looked up to find his father watching him.

"Why aren't you resting?" he asked the older man.

"Would you believe I was looking for the bathroom?" his father chuckled. "This place is massive."

"It is pretty big." Ward said with a shrug. "Come on… I'll show you where it is…"

"So who was that?"

"Who?"

"The girl…" his father stated as if it was obvious. "Girlfriend?"

Ward stopped walking and turned back. "No… she's my… rookie…"

His father gave him a confused look.

"I'm her S.O." Ward explained.

"Dangerous waters…"

"What are you talking about?" Ward asked before continuing to lead his father to the bathroom near the bunks.

"Falling in love with your rookie…" his stated again as if it was obvious. "Most would frown upon it… I didn't picture Coulson as the type to be okay with that to be honest… Guess it's true what they say… he really has changed."

"What do you know about Coulson?"

His father smiled softly. "Just idle gossip." He looked past Ward. "Thanks for showing me the bathroom."

It wasn't until hours later that he'd realized he'd never corrected his father when he talked about falling in love with his rookie.

* * *

><p>Coulson dropped the bomb on them a few days later when they were leaving The Hub. They'd dropped off his father for debriefing about his captors. They would be relocating him somewhere safe. Ward didn't truly expect to see the older man again after this. But it had been days since that night and Skye hadn't spoken to him yet. May had already ended things with him too. He thought that should bother him more than it did. But he found himself not thinking about it much. Now that they were leaving The Hub, Coulson was trying to explain that one of them wouldn't be leaving with the rest of the team.<p>

Coulson informed them all that Skye was leaving the team. She'd be staying behind and suddenly he felt rage. The kind of rage he hadn't felt since he touched the Asgardian staff and he'd gotten into this mess to begin with.

"What the hell do you mean leaving the team?" he'd directed the question at her but it was Coulson who'd answered.

"Skye's requested to be transferred." Coulson continued. "She's not coming with us."

"Where are you being transferred to?" It was Fitz that asked.

"Not sure yet…" Skye answered him with an excited grin. "I'll probably stay at The Hub for a few days until they figure out that little detail."

"But I'm your S.O." Ward found himself arguing. "You can't make these kinds of decisions without discussing them with me first."

She acknowledged him for the first time in days. "I went over your head. Coulson got me in contact with Commander Hill and Director Fury. They think it's a great idea. I'll get the proper field training that I need to become a real Agent."

That stung. _Proper training_?

He turned toward Coulson. "Sir… you can't be serious…"

"It's well above my clearance, Agent Ward." Coulson answered with a shrug. "The top dogs approved this. I can't do anything to keep her here."

He wanted to hit something…. Someone… He really wanted to hit that tool, Miles, but he wasn't anywhere nearby. He briefly wondered if the punk hacker was still in Japan.

"Why?" he asked her.

She bit her lip. "I have to do this for me."

He nodded. He didn't understand. But he did know that there wasn't anything he could do to convince her not to leave them… to leave _him_.

"Well… good luck to you then…" he muttered before walking away from the debriefing room.

* * *

><p>He'd locked himself inside of his bunk after that. Fitz, Simmons, Coulson… even May had all tried to talk to him. Everyone but the one person he wanted to talk to most came looking for him.<p>

The next day was the day that Commander Hill was picking her up to take her back to The Hub. He'd watched her quietly pack the few things she had early that morning. He wanted to say something. He wanted to beg her to stay. But something Fitz said to him the night before kept him quiet.

"_Say something, Ward…. Either say something to her or… just let her go, mate."_

That morning, Commander Hill picked her up. He didn't go down to the cargo hold to say goodbye with everyone else. But he watched the entire thing from upstairs. He wondered if she looked for him in the faces that were down there. Still, he stayed firmly planted upstairs where he couldn't hurt her anymore. Because he'd taken Fitz's advice.

He'd chosen to let her go. Because she needed him to. He knew she'd done this drastic decision to get away from him. If it was what she needed then he would let her do it. Because he finally realized that he did love her. His father had been right after all. He'd fallen in love with his rookie. But he also realized how much he loved her. And as much as it hurt to admit, he loved her enough to let her go.


End file.
